Pitt is hosting a conference next weekend (November 4 - 6) that is titled "Modernity and Contemporaneity: Antimonies of Art and Culture after the Twentieth Century. I have nothing to do with the conference, and I won't be around Pittsburgh that weekend, but I'm sorry that I'll miss it: The conference features an incredible all-star international lineup of critical academics. Institutions at both ends of Oakland are absolutely cooking these days.